August 24, 2023
A Tale of Two Prayers
Luke 18:9-14
Parables have been called earthly stories with heavenly meanings. They were a tool often used by Jesus while He taught. When asked by His disciples why He was teaching in parables, Jesus quoted the scripture we looked at last week in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah was given his mission after praying the powerful prayer, “Lord send me!”. In light of Jesus’ quotation of Isaiah, we see that there are very few times in which Jesus would explain a parable to anyone outside of His 12 closest disciples. When He shared a parable those who believed in Him would understand, but those who refused to believe would be scratching their head wondering how the story Jesus told had anything to do with them. This is the reason Jesus quoted Isaiah 6. Of the 40 or so parables that Jesus used, there were a few times that Jesus wanted to make sure everyone who heard them understood what He was talking about. This morning we will be looking at one of them as we continue in the series, “Powerful Prayers”. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of two different men who prayed two very different prayers. Let’s take a look at both of these prayers, make some observations about them, and see which prayer Jesus deemed as powerful.
The Prayer of the Religious Man - Luke 18:9-12
9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
The first thing Luke points out is the people Jesus is sharing this parable with. It’s a group of individuals who are pretty confident in their own righteousness and are very much like the man whose prayer Jesus refers to first. Much like the man in the parable these people are oblivious to that fact. They think they are fine, but Jesus is about to point out that they are not fine – instead they are all frauds.
The first man whose prayer Jesus references is a Pharisee. It’s very likely that a majority of those who were in Jesus’ audience were Pharisees as well. For us, it’s hard to understand the social status of the Pharisees because we have the entirety of scripture. We know that they were a bunch of hypocrites. However for those in Jesus' day, it was very different. They were the ones who were looked up to and idolized by the youth of that day when it came to religious and social stature. They were those whom everyone strived to be like. They were religious rock stars, but as we will see, they weren’t all they were cracked up to be.
His Audience
As we said in the very first sermon in this series, the power of prayer does not come from the exact words we say or the position we pray in, but from the One to whom we pray. Since that is the case, Jesus points out who this Pharisee directs his prayer toward at the very beginning of the parable. We can tell right away that there is no power in the prayer that is offered by this Pharisee. In verse 11, we see that he stood by himself and therefore(as told in a textual note in this translation) was praying to himself. While this would have looked no different than any other prayer to those who were in attendance at the temple that day, we know from the story, that his motives were not what they seemed. He wasn’t praying to God, rather he was praying to himself. He wanted people to notice him. He had no intention of getting in the ear of God but the ear of those in attendance that day to impress them with his “righteousness”. While it is true that he used the name of God to start his prayer, we see quickly that it was merely lip service. Jesus was showing the motives of this Pharisee by telling us about his intended audience right off the bat. Sometimes things will look good to everyone on the outside, but God knows our hearts - He knows our motives (1 Samuel 16:7).
His Message
The message of the Pharisee’s prayer was one of arrogance and comparison. Like we mentioned before he starts by giving lip service by saying the name of God even though he had no intention of this being a real prayer. In contrast to his using the word “God” once, he used the word “I” eight times in these 4 sentences. He wanted everyone around to know how righteous he was. He did so by comparison with others and not with God. It was by comparison that he found security in his life. He compared himself to all those around him. As long as he found himself better than all of them, he was good in his own eyes. He mentions that he doesn’t take advantage of people (Luke 20:47), he doesn’t sin (1 John 1:10), and he doesn’t commit adultery (Matthew 5:28). He then gets specific in his comparison by pointing out the tax collector and comparing himself to him. He goes on to say how great of a job he does when it comes to following rules. He goes above and beyond everything that is required in the law. It’s been said that if it were physically possible the Pharisees would fast every day, but most settled for two days instead of fasting at the prescribed festivals throughout the year. It’s all because they wanted everyone else to see their righteousness. Yes, by comparison they seemed to be uber-righteous. When you find your security in comparison, you aren’t fooling God, you are only deceiving yourself.
His Purpose
The purpose of his prayer was plain and simple - it was self-exaltation. He wanted to let everyone know how great he was. In his mind, God was lucky to have him on His team. He had no need for God because he had everything taken care of himself. His opinion of himself helps us to understand his view of God. He thought he only needed God as a means to an end. God was there so he could maintain a certain status and stature in society. He liked the renowned and he liked all the people who looked up to him. He didn’t need God, but he thought that God needed him and his prayer was undeniable proof of that.
The Prayer of the Scoundrel - Luke 18:13
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’
It is hard for us to understand how looked down upon the tax collector was in his society. We have nothing in our culture that is like a tax collector was to those in Jerusalem. As esteemed as the Pharisee was, the tax collector was in direct contrast. His prayer was in the same fashion. In contrast to the Pharisee’s prayer, the prayer of the tax collector couldn’t be any more different and that’s the point. Everyone who was present would have listened to Jesus speak of the Pharisee’s prayer and it would have probably really resounded with all of them. You might have even gotten an amen or two. Once Jesus started sharing the prayer of the tax collector, things would start to come into proper perspective.
His Audience
As abundantly clear as the Pharisee’s audience was to the listeners, the tax collector’s audience was even more so. It started with his mannerisms. He didn’t or maybe even couldn’t look up to heaven when he prayed because he didn’t believe he was worthy to do so while talking to God. He addresses God as the Pharisee did, but in the context of his entire prayer - you can tell the sincerity of his prayer. He was speaking to God and God alone.
His Reflection
Here in our English translation, we have the tax collector calling himself “a sinner”, but this could be better interpreted as “the sinner”. You could tell how seriously the tax collector took his sin because of his posture during his prayer. He was ashamed of it, especially before a Holy God. The tax collector didn’t care about anyone else, what anyone else did, or what anyone else said. All he cared about was his sin and bringing it before God. He was saying, I’m the only sinner in the world, HELP! Remind you of anyone else? (1 Timothy 1:15)
His Purpose
His purpose was simple. He realized the sin in his life and his need for forgiveness. He realized his need for mercy that could only come from God. He approached God in humility and with an honest prayer. He was a desperate man and came to the only one he knew could help.
Jesus’ Response to Both - Luke 18:14
14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The Pharisees had everything you could want except one thing. The scoundrel had nothing except for one thing and it’s that one thing that made all the difference - it was humility. Jesus said in His sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. That’s what was being played out in the life of the tax collector. He was poor in spirit (humble), desperate for help, and knew that the mercy of God was his only hope. He went away justified because of that - because of his humility, and his utter dependence on God and God alone. It was by faith that he was justified (Romans 3:21-22). It was not his merit that answered his prayer, it was all God’s mercy and grace.
In this parable, Jesus presented two extremes when it comes to prayer. I would hope none of us would ever go to God in prayer like the Pharisee - clinging to comparisons and then calling those people out who we thought we were better than during prayer. I would hope none of us would try to justify ourselves in prayer by telling God how great we are, but we can see ourselves in the Pharisee sometimes. We often compare our sins to the sins of others and think “I’m ok”. Maybe we’ve prayed for forgiveness and tried to bargain with God. Maybe we’ve said something like, “God if you get me out of this I promise never to do it again.” That’s just as bad. You are saying something we do should merit God’s mercy or maybe we are just trying to bribe God with obedience. The whole point of this parable is not to relate with the Pharisee but pray like the tax collector. We should pray in humility and honesty about ourselves and our sins. We are to come to God in prayer with nothing except faith in a God who is merciful and an honest and desperate request for His mercy. The Pharisee was in the same position as the tax collector but was too blinded by his own sense of self-worth to see his need for the same mercy and grace that the tax collector cried out for. May we never find ourselves in that same situation.
